First Look Friday--Pg. 80

It’s actually on Friday this week. This is progress.

First-Look Friday (ish)--Pg. 79

Almost there...

First Look Monday--Tobias Finch is Back.

Since our new website is up and running and we're coming down to our final photoshopped pages, I thought now would be a good time to bring back that crusty old gumshoe, Tobias Finch. Below I've provided links to the Introduction and first chapter from our website. Next week, I promise I'll post a page.

Intro: 

www.thewondercity.com/blog/?p=137

Front Matter: 

www.thewondercity.com/blog/?p=137

Chapter 1: 

www.thewondercity.com/blog/?p=143 

First Look Friday--Our New Home

No page today for all you first lookers. This week we are featuring our brand new website. Go on over and take a look:

www.thewondercity.com

Many thanks to Jo Tsai who put her time, effort and incredible talents into putting together the website for us.

And this Monday I will be rebooting The Case Files of Tobias Finch. This is the story of how Velma, shadowing an aging gumshoe, really becomes the Velma we come to know in The Wonder City. So stay tuned for that. I promise it will be a fun read.

First Look-Weekend-Pg 78-Dottie

Our website is just about ready to go (it's already live) and I have a feeling by the end of the week we'll be ready to feature it, so stayed tuned. 

Since we've been heavily featuring Dottie in this scene,  I thought I would add a little more on her  background by including one of Velma's journal entries. She's quickly becoming one of my favorites and I think it's easy to see why. This excerpt from Velma's journal not only features Dottie tough-as-nails persona, but also serves as an intro to the bartender Fox and Velma's foray into becoming a whiskey enthusiast. Take note of Velma's staunch and stuffy tone in this entry. She's 19 years old in her first month at Barnard. 

SEPTEMBER 20, 1931:

At 9:30 PM when I am usually tucked away in bed with a book, Dottie told me it was time to get ready. She ran down to the showers and washed herself. She flew back into the room in a terry robe and quickly threw on a slim black dress with white trim. Although Dottie has a pale complexion for someone of the Italian persuasion, I still think black washes her out. Of course she feels she can rectify this by over roughing her cheeks and painting her lips cherry red to match her finger nails.

I put on a simple blue dress and over it a trench coat. Of course Dottie had something to say about this. “What are you some shamus or something? You’re going out not solving a crime.”

“I’m investigating.” Was my retort.

Her face grew stern. “Listen to me and listen good, I swear to the holy Lord if you rat on this joint I’ll bust your nose in.” She made a fist to enforce her claim.

“Dottie, I’m only curious to see if my professor is there. I’m not out to ruin anyone’s fun."

She unclenched her fist. “As long as we’re clear. Just cause you’re whacky doesn’t mean the rest of us need to be.”

I kept the trench on since the evening was moist. We walked over to Broadway and traveled a few blocks south from campus. The restaurants and coffee shops were full of life, which amazed me. I would have been asleep for at least an hour on any other night, but here a whole other world went on right outside my door.

Dottie stopped in front of a dark bakery. She looked both ways. In the dark sliver of space between the bakery and the building next to it was a red metal door with high grate climbing above it. She tapped on the door lightly and whispered, “Sticky buns.” With that the door opened to a crack and we were permitted to enter. Behind the door was a slim dark-haired gentlemen who whispered, “Hiya Dottie.” He looked over me. “This a friend?”

“My roommate, Velma. Don’t mind the jacket. This is her first time out.”

He tipped his black hat, “Nice makin’ your acquaintance, Velma.”

I cracked a smile through my fear, “You as well.”

“Howie’s inside waitin’ for ya,” he said to Dottie.

“Thanks Rick. Come on, Velma.” She took me by the arm and led me through the alley. “That’s Rick. Sweet kid.”

“He seems it.” I was trying to mask my throbbing nerves but the shady alley lit by one naked bulb and the secret passwords were not helping.

She stopped in front of a smaller green door and tapped again four times. The door opened cautiously and we entered. The man behind this door looked exactly like Rick at the first door. “Hey, Dottie.”

“Hiya Mick.” She looked at me. “They’re twins.”

“Oh,” I said. Mick and Rick sounded like the Vaudeville.

“This ya friend?” He asked.

“My roommate, Velma. Don’t mind the jacket. This is her first time out.”

“Nice to meet ya, Velma,” he said tipping his black hat.

“And you as well,” I said nodding my head.

Dottie rolled her eyes at me. “She’s from upstate so that’s why she’s all formal-like.”

Mick smiled, “A formal dame ain’t something I’m used to here…. Howie’s inside.”

“Got it. Thanks, Mick.” Dottie put her arm out and with her hand clutched the air and drew it to the side not only to reveal a room spotted with candles and hanging lanterns, but the noise of the seventy or so patrons drinking and conversing. The black velvet curtain blocked out all sound and light from escaping.

We stepped down a short staircase into the main room. “We call it the Bakery seeing as it’s behind a bakery.”

“Very clever,” I said; my heart racing. The smell of cheap liquor and the clouds of cigarette smoke made me immediately dizzy.

“The air’s not so great. You might want to lose the jacket.”

She was right I was beginning to sweat. “No I’m fine.”

“Suit yourself, honey.”

Out of thin air a man in a cheap blue suit came from behind Dottie, wrapped his arms around her waist and swung her off the ground. She yelped out with a smile, “HOWIE!”

I was frozen with fear.

He turned her around and kissed her on the lips. “Your sucha nut,” she said laughing.

“I know it, but I’m your nut, doll face.” His eyes were light with an angular creamy face and the distinct trace of freckles on his cheeks.

“Howie, this is Velma.”

“Nice to meet ya. Dottie says awful things about ya,” he starts laughing. I hoped he was joking.

She slapped him across the cheek playfully, “Howie’s an idiot who says the first thing that comes across his pea brain, but we keep him around for fun.”

“And Dottie’s the dame who can hustle any of these guys at pool,” he said proudly.

“And Velma’s the one who can speak eight languages. Now that we know each other’s talents, let’s get a drink,” Dottie heading toward the back of the establishment.

“Nice meeting you Howie,” I said. “But I can only speak three languages although I can understand five.”

“Alright, enough,” Dottie said as the three of us walked over to the long bar. “What ya got tonight, Fox?”

Fox seemed to be the short older gentlemen with not a trace of hair on his head and a round pug face. His white apron was impressively spotless. He replied tersely, “Gin or whiskey.”

“What’s homemade?” Dottie asked.

Howie chimed in, “The gin and you can taste it.”

“Ok, three whiskies and put ‘em on the rocks in honor of our new friend, Velma.”

“Dottie, I’m not drinking,” I urgently reminded her.

The man called Fox poured the drinks into ice-filled glasses. “Yeah you are. It’s on me.”

“No, I’m not,” I insisted.

Dottie pushed Howie out of the way and put my arm into a vice grip. “Listen sister if you walk around in a joint like this in a jacket like that and you don’t drink, kids are gonna start thinking you’re the fuzz and it won’t be pretty for any of us—”

“Ladies, ladies,” Howie started seeing the fear in my eyes, I’m sure.

“—so drink the damn drink.” She let my arm go and smiled. “Besides, you might like it.”

“You're a beast,” Howie said to Dottie with wild excitement in his eyes.

“Remember that when some pretty dame walks in front of ya.”

“I will,” Howie said with a grin. Dottie picked up a glass and handed it to me. Then one to Howie and she took the last for herself. She raised her glass, “To breaking the law,” she took a large sip and placed the glass on the bar. Howie took a reasonable sip.

I looked at the full glass and just wanting to be done with the whole thing, I took a breath and drank the entirety of the amber liquid. In an instant the combination of heat, smoke, body stench, and poison hit me and all went black.

First-Look Friday--On Saturday

So really, what makes a Friday different from a Saturday anyway?

Don't answer that.

Oh and Velma's still throwing 'em back with her friends Dottie and Fox. 

First-Look Friday--Pg. 76

GOOD NEWS! Courtney is officially done inking and we have officially entered the post-production phase of the book! So now all we have to do is clean up the pages you've been looking at. It's going to be a couple months of full-blown Photoshop.

WOOHOO! 

Thanks for hanging in there with us.

Happy New Year First Look--Pg. 75

 

Here are some things to look forward to from THE WONDER CITY in 2011 (besides Velma downing whiskey in a dive bar).

• Our twitter feed: @thewondercity will feature headlines from everyday in 1942 as a count down to the beginning of our first book which starts in, you guessed it, 1942.  

• The return of Tobias Finch, Private Eye featuring our very own, Velma Graydon (this week). 

• A brandy new website designed by the amazing, Jo Tsai.

 And most importantly:

• THE WONDER CITY: Volume 1 The Great Whale of Coney Island!!!

Wishing you all a healthy and happy 2011! 

First-Look Friday--Pg. 74

On page 74 we join Velma at her favorite watering hole with her best friend, Dottie Cento, and her trusty bartender, Fox. These guys came out of Velma's journals from her Barnard days in the early 30's which were being blogged by yours truly (someday yours truly will actually finish them). Dottie was Velma's fast-talking, hooch-swilling roommate from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn (now a lawyer). Fox was a bartender at a speakeasy near their campus who, after Prohibition, went on to legally tend bar downtown.

They were characters created long after the first book was written but their strong personalities found their way into this story too. Basically when I looked at the first script in its entirety I realized Velma needed a little friendly relief from all the chaos that was going on around her. Fox and Dottie seemed to be the perfect anecdote.

So with that a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all from The Wonder City.

First-Look Friday--Pg. 42

So we're jumping around here with the page order. This is one of my favorites so far and it's not hard to see why. We're back before Velma goes down to her office.

Next week: Ring in the holidays with Velma at her favorite neighborhood gin joint.

First-Look Friday--Pg. 46

After reading a part of a prophecy in the Tovernboak, Velma comes to one of the most important realizations here. It's actually one that will change the course of the entire book. Of course, I'm not telling you what it is. You'll just have to find out when the book is finished.

Note the staircase from Velma's office. It made a guest appearance in a blog entry last spring:

  Velma dragged me down the right passageway behind the choir and stopped abruptly at at a black iron gate. It was the gilded entrance to a dark spiral staircase. Velma swung open the gate and darted down into the shadows. 

  "How do you not kill yourself going down these things?" I was cautiously placing my left foot onto the first stair.

  "I count them. You know how many years I've been doing this? Close the gate behind you."

  I did as I was told. "No flashlight? Nothing?" I had never been to her office before and I was brimming with anticipation for the opportunity. I just knew it would be a treasure trove of historical artifacts.

  "Quit the whining, fancy pants. Just count! There are 28 steps." She was already at the bottom jingling keys.

  "Well I don't know which step I'm on now." I honestly didn't get very far. "Now I have to go back up and start all over."

  "By the sounds of it, you're on 8." I heard a key click into the lock and then a slow turn was made. It sounded like she was unlocking a massive bank vault.

  In my mind I counted from 8 and once I labored to 27 I took one more step and cautiously felt for another, but there was only floor. She was spot-on. The very second my foot made contact she flung open the door and light quickly spilled out onto the staircase. "You couldn't have done that sooner?"
  "I wanted you to know how right I was," Velma said smugly. 

First-Look Friday--Pg. 45

Velma's a gal who loves her books especially the one she's looking at on this page. It's called the Tovernboak which is an important document handed down from the Dutch New Amsterdam era of the city. It's the primer Velma needs to solve one of New York's greatest mysteries (That's all I'm going to say on that). When I told Courtney the page Velma was looking at was in 17th century Low Dutch, she just rolled her eyes and wondered why she ever got involved with my historical shenanigans.

In other news, Courtney has set to work inking the last 18 pages of the book and  I just recently started doing Photoshop work on the pages she's inked. Basically where getting to the "almost done" phase of The Wonder City. Wooohooo!!!

Last but not least, we had a knod in the Kickstarter blog yesterday. Thanks to them and to all our backers for the continued support. You're the best!

http://blog.kickstarter.com/post/2071730953/love-at-first-sight 

First-Look Black Friday--Pg. 44

Velma doing some research in her swank office. For all you history nerds, take note of the Castello Plan map (c.1660) on her wall in the first panel. Courtney's attention to detail is amazing.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

First-Look Friday--Pg. 43

Page 42 is still in production. It's a really cool page, but not ready for a preview, so hang tight.

Velma's office in the basement of St. John the Divine is one of my favorite settings in The Wonder City. It's sort of my idea of a dream office and I think Courtney's done a great job with it so far.

Poor Velma is not happy on this page. You'll find out why soon enough.

Behind the Scenes Sketches

Some of Courtney's practice sketches for page 41.

First-Look Friday--Pg. 41

JR here: Every Friday we're going to let you preview a page in progress. This week's page is 41.

 

Courtney is currently in the process of inking the last two chapters of our first volume. This page here is hot off her drafting table. In the next couple of days (fingers crossed) I'll begin to clean these guys up in Photoshop. I'll go into a little more detail about that when I start.

Here we see Velma returning to St. John the Divine where she is based as the cathedral's archivist. She also  freelances as a gal Friday for one of New York City's oldest secret societies which plunges her into the action of this first book. 

 

For Posterity

As Justin previously wrote, we were recently very lucky to speak on a NY Comic Con panel with the awesome folks from Kickstarter, and some very inspiring project creators: Jamie Tanner (Aviary) and James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot (Indie Game The Movie). It was a great experience and very cool to hear questions from audience members plotting out their own Kickstarter projects. Lo and behold JR emailed me a link to a video of the panel (which the thought of watching all the way through causes a butterfly riot in my stomach) made by Mary Nichols (DJ Fusion).

My parents assure me we both look professional and neither of us have weird hair.

In comic drawing news, we are getting so close to beginning some photoshop work on two completed channels, I could cry golden tears of joy! I love the part where I can drag my laptop to the coffee house and pretend I'm a freelance something-or-other. I'm also starting inking on the last couple chapters, so we'll have several new characters to introduce soon!

The Wonder City At 2010 NY Comic Con

Courtney and I were fortunate enough to contribute to Kickstarter's Comic Con panel discussion yesterday. Here are some pics from the day and many thanks again to Kickstarter for the amazing opportunity. We really had a blast.


 From the panel:

This is with red-eye reduction. Me, Courtney, and Kickstarter co-founder, Yancey Strickler.

We also welcomed the white spot in the far right-hand corner to speak but he didn't have that much to say. He's hovering over Cindy Au who put together the event for Kickstarter.

Sitting next to graphic novelist, Jamie Tanner creator of  The Aviary. On the far-left were Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky from the upcoming film Indie Game: The Movie. Check these guys out, they are all doing really interesting projects.

How cool did we feel with these?

This wasn't even the crowded section. It was a sold-out show.

Biggest. Nerd. Ever.

Our Coney Island Walking Tour Featured on Kickstarter's Blog

Take a look at the link below! We think it looks awesome. Many thanks to Daniella Jaeger and all the staff at Kickstarter for their incredible support.


http://blog.kickstarter.com/post/1179320732/walking-wonder-citys-reward-a-tour-of-coney-island

Some panels from Chpt 3 depicting my flirtation with cross hatching